


don't mess with the flow, no no

by cliffakitten



Series: jock/theatre geek high school au! [2]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Smut, M/M, basically this is the malum side, but this will spoil the ending of sttsq, but you dont have to have read that to understand this one, jock!calum, so if you want the lashton go read the first fic, stupid boys are stupid, theatre geek!michael, this is the side story to my main lashton fic stick to the status quo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-02-27 22:26:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2708963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cliffakitten/pseuds/cliffakitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael Clifford did not do football players. Everyone knew that, it was right there in the 'Official Facts of Life' right next to 'banana's actually grow on trees' there was 'Michael Gordon Clifford does not like dumb jocks'. It was practically a sacred law by this point and he wasn't going to let anything change that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, beautiful people!
> 
> Okay, so I originally meant for this to be a one shot, but I felt bad with taking so long and decided just to make it a chaptered thing. It wont be as long as the lashton fic probably only four or five chapters so I hope you guys like it :)

 

Calum was going to pass out.

That was the only realistic outcome of the red hot heat that was currently sweeping through his body. His teacher was speaking at the front of the class, pointing to something on the board but Calum wasn't paying any attention. Not when his palms had started to stick to the desk because of the amount of sweat on them. Jesus was that actually a hand print of sweat?

_well, fuck that can't be normal_

But then neither is the frantic pounding of his heart or the twitch in his foot, making his knee jerk a mile a minute and he can feel Luke's questioning look from the row over. He needed to calm his shit.

He looks across to the brunette in the front row, her long, shiny hair flowing down the back of the lacy cami she was wearing that day. Calum had had a crush on Macie Jenkins ever since he walked into this math class three months ago... and today he was going to ask her out.

Naturally he was reacting appropriately for the situation, nothing quite like having the lingering smell of nervous, panic induced sweat lingering around you when you ask out one of the prettiest girls in the year. You would have thought that looking at her would be calming...you would be wrong. It made everything ten times worse, his chest tightened, his throat closed and Calum was pretty certain those were white spots in front of his eyes. Yeah, he thought this whole 'liking someone' thing should be much easier, because this constant feeling like he was about to be placed in an electric chair at any moment, was not good or nice or anything that people said liking someone feels. But that was probably just the nerves, he reasoned he just had to bottle it up and go for it.

The bell rang.

_just go for it_

Calum could see Luke coming towards him but he didn't wait, making a beeline straight for the door. Macie hadn't collected her things together yet, he still had time. Luke shot him a confused look and Calum waved him off, watching Macie pull her bag onto her shoulder, laughing at something her friend said.

_fuck she's beautiful_

_and she's coming this way, c'mon cal you can do this_

He takes a step forward, clearing his throat which still does nothing to help the little squeak at the start as he says, “H-hey, Macie can I ask you something?” and her little gaggle of friends all laugh and Calum can feel the blood rush to his face.

_fuckin puberty_

But Macie doesn't laugh, the small glare she sends at her friends actually makes the small bundle of confidence Calum has inside him, flare up as she smiles at him. “Sure, um sorry what was your name again?”

The giggling intensifies and Calum fights the urge to crawl into a hole, “It's Calum and I er, I just wanted to know if – if you would-”

“Oh my god is he asking you out?” a girl with bleach blonde hair coos, hand flying to her mouth dramatically as the other girls follow, cackling loudly.

Another girl with nails like neon pink talons throws her hands around Macie, who's not even looking Calum in the eye, and half shields her like he could pounce on her at any moment. There are more people watching now, most of his class having lingered after seeing what was happening and Calum is half wishing he had picked a better time to do this and half wishing he never bothered in the first place.

Then another clone is coming forward, smirk in place, “This isn't elementary school any more, one of the the prettiest girls in the year isn't going to want to go out with a nobody like you.” she scoffs and the surrounding crowd burst into laughter as Calum feels a hand come down on his shoulder, but he doesn't look to see who it is, too busy watching as Macie does nothing, just stares at the floor.

“C'mon man, lets get out of here.” Luke's voice says in his ear as he starts to try and pull him away.

As he moves Macie glances up, with a sad smile shrugging as she says, “I'm sorry, Conner.” and now he thinks she doesn't look as beautiful any more.

“It's Calum, actually.” the dark haired boy mutters as Luke steers him past the crowd and to their next class, only stopping when they come to a empty corridor.

“You okay, Cal?” he asks, turning to face his best friend with his hands gripping his shoulders tightly, “Look, don't listen to them. They were dicks, complete ass holes who don't know anything, who cares what they think.”

“I'm such an idiot.” Calum mutters, head falling back against the lockers as he stares at the notice board on the other wall. “Why did I even think I had a chance?”

Before he knows it he has an armful of Luke Hemmings, tucking himself under Calum's chin and snaking his arms around his middle. Luke has always been cuddly so this isn't exactly new, but it still feels really really nice. “Well you are an idiot if you think you're any less then them. It's those guys who are missing out on you, you just have to like someone who is going to see that next time.”

Calum laughs, he can't help it it just happens. “Oh I'm not going to like anyone again.” he chuckles sadly making Luke look up at him.

“What do you mean, of course you are.” the blonde says, “There are plenty more girls...or guys, out there.”

The mention of the guys, still makes Calum blush. He only revealed to Luke about how he _maybe_ might sort of want to kiss guys a bit at the end of the summer, after a considerable amount of alcohol. The blonde had only smiled widely with a loud “Seriously, me too! Aw man this is awesome!” and Calum had never been more thankful to have Luke as his best friend.

“I mean, I'm _choosing_ not to feel that way towards anyone any more.” Calum says, “It way too stressful and look where it's gotten me: the laughing stock of the whole year for a good week I'd say.” he adds, throwing out his arms as Luke drops his hold, concerned expression on his face which Calum ignores, he knows he is right in what he's saying. “It's easier just not to feel that way, to _want_ someone that way. I'm done with all that shit, dude. I'm done.”

Luke's worried look remains as he watches Calum pull his bag further up his shoulder and walk over to the notice board. “Are you sure about this, Cal?” he asks, “It's just one girl, it wont always be like this.”

The dark haired boy nods as he looks up at the football team sign up sheet. “It's not worth it, Lukey, it's better to just not care at all isn't it?” Calum says, looking back at the blonde and pointing at the sign up sheet. “Hey, you've always like football, right?”

 

~oOo~

 

Football players are dicks.

That was Michael Clifford's firm and humble opinion thank you very much. One that he expresses rather loud and frequently after being shoved into a locker, a trash can and on one occasion a large, very wet life sized sculpture of the school principle (who still gives him a 'look' if they pass in the halls), which only fuels Michael's annoyance towards the sporty, gym jacked douchebags. That and his irrational skittishness that comes on when it's 'art week'.

It's not like he was an idiot or anything, he came into his junior year knowing full well that he would be getting shit for how he looked. A teenage boy can't parade around with hot pink hair and not expect that really, but then he just had to go and join the theatre club and cement his status as 'jock target' for the rest of his school career. Michael didn't really care, he always did what he wanted up until then and some ass holes shoving him against lockers wasn't going to change that, it only made who were the dicks easier to identify.

So far, the entire set of members of any kind of sports team. But especially the football players, they were the kings of the dicks.

It was three months into his junior year when it happened. Just after Michael had been shoved into a girls bathroom by a couple of jocks and had a bunch of shrieking teenage girls yelling about 'freakin perverts' in his face before they practically threw him into the hallway, tripping and landing on his ass. He waited for the chorus of laughter and pointing fingers, but it never came.

Well it did, but from down the hall and from a crowd of students gathered around the door to one of the math classrooms. Michael jumped to his feet, taking the chance while everyone was distracted to save a small bit of his remaining dignity, eyeing the gathering as he pulled his bag up is shoulder. Couldn't hurt to check it out, right? So he walks over, expecting the usual kind of traditional public humiliation of some poor ass nerdy kid and well...he was half right.

In the middle of the circle are a group of girls that Michael knows are the 'populars' of his year, with the same straight, waist length hair, the heavy make up plastered on their faces and the same annoying as fuck fake laugh. Yeah, these are the times when Michael is so glad he has no interest in the female kind, although the girl right in the middle of it all and looking _very_ uncomfortable isn't too bad at least this guy has good taste, who ever his is and oh...

_oh fuck he's cute_

Michael looked at the guy in the centre of all this and felt his stomach drop. The laughter just faded away around him as he took this boy in, the cheek bones, the skin which was just _glowing_ and the jawline, dear god the jawline...even the kicked puppy look he had going on was working for him. Then there's a blonde boy coming up to him, arm circling his friend's shoulders... _shitting fuck even his shoulders are perfect..._ and Michael wants to stab himself in the eye just for thinking on that level of sappy.

Then the blonde boy is steering them both away, heading straight for Michael and the girl calls out, “I'm sorry, Conner.”

“It's Calum, actually.” he hears the gorgeous guy say, just before his shoulder brushes with Michael's and the pink haired boy feels like all the air has just been stolen from his lungs.

_calum_

_his name is calum_

That was all Michael thought as he watched the boy's back as he walked away from the crowd, away from him.

The thing is, when Michael falls, he falls really fucking hard. Which is what happened over the next few months, every time he caught sight of the boy in the halls, in the cafeteria his heart would jump like he had just gotten shocked. It was becoming a problem and he knew he would have to do something about it, he didn't know what...maybe run into him 'accidentally' in the halls...ask if he has a spare pen...throw something at him...hell, throw himself off a cliff at this point.

Especially when one lunch break, Calum and his tall, blonde friend walk into the cafeteria wearing the freaking football team jackets and go to sit with the god damn team on their own shitting table. Yeah, Michael really wishes there was a decent bridge near by to just fling himself off, because why did he have to be a jock? He wasn't before, everything was perfect before and now he wanted to rip that damn jacket from Calum's stupid back and yell at him for ruining this.

But that wasn't even the worst thing. The worst thing was how he didn't really want to do that. How Michael still wanted to throw himself off a high structure because the flipping of his stomach was still there (which he was certain had nothing to do with the school food and everything to do with the golden skinned boy sat four tables over) which made him even more annoyed because his body should be listening to his brain, damnit.

Michael Clifford did not do football players. Everyone knew that, it was right there in the 'Official Facts of Life' right next to 'banana's actually grow on trees' there was 'Michael Gordon Clifford does not like dumb jocks'. It was practically a sacred law by this point and he wasn't going to let anything change that.

Not even the most adorable floppy hair ever, and he really didn't care about how soft it might be ( _god i wanna just pet it...no that's weird as fuck clifford, stop that)_ , or how Calum had the prettiest looking hands he'd ever seen, ( _i'd bet they'd feel great wrapped around my – no, no, nope, not going there. sooo not going there)_ certainly, not the wide, cute-as-fuck smile on his face which Michael could see from across the cafeteria.

_oh shitting hell, he's gorgeous_

The pink haired boy rested his head on his hands as he watched the football team table, his heart in his chest feeling lighter than air and with his stomach like it was lined with lead.

He didn't like footballer players. He didn't like footballer players. He didn't like footballer players. He didn't like footballer players. He didn't like footballer players.

Michael watched as Calum threw his head back, laughing loudly at whatever had been said by one of his team mates and the sound was like honey to his ears, but also made him let his head fall down onto the table with a dull thud because, who the hell was he kidding?

“Fuck my life.” Michael mutters into his lap, the sound of Calum-the-frigging-football-player's laughed still ringing around his head.

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, beautiful babes! 
> 
> You know, you would think that writing a fic based of the events of another fic would be easier to write...you would be wrong. Idk, maybe it was just this chapter that was a bit tricky. Anyhoo, all my love and I hope you like it. xx

~oOo~ Two Years Later ~oOo~

 

Luke Hemmings would have you think he was a subtle guy, someone who was good at keeping their feelings hidden. Someone who thinks that their best friend couldn't read them like a book.

Calum Hood knows a thing or two. One: Despite what he thinks, Luke Hemmings is about as subtle as a brick. Two: Luke Hemmings is shit at hiding how he is feeling. Three: Luke Hemmings is a complete idiot if he doesn't think Calum knows exactly what is going on in his friends little blonde head. Four: Luke Hemmings _likes_ someone.

_poor boy_

Oh yeah, two years and Calum was still sticking firmly to his 'no liking people like that' policy and it was going rather well he thought. Sure, he had developed a bit of a reputation for being a bit of a notorious hook up-and-leave kind of guy, but hey he was a teenage boy what was he going to do keep using his right hand for the rest of his life? No thank you.

Luke didn't approve of course, but then he was the one pining after this unknown guy for months and getting nothing from it apart from a good old dose of stomach-flipping-nerves and uncertainty. By the looks of things, the whole 'liking someone' situation hadn't gotten any better in the past two years.

So, all things considering, Calum was quite happy with his lifestyle of choice. He was having fun, the girls (and the odd guy) knew what they were getting into when they found themselves in the nearest janitor closet or bathroom stall with him, so no one got hurt with misunderstandings. Occasionally Calum would go to their house, if he liked them enough – not like that, never like that – to stick around for more than a one time thing, but never brought them back to his. That was too personal for him, not fun or easy to forget after, he just wanted a fool around and that's it.

It was simple, easy and just physical. Calum didn't do complicated or emotions when it came to sex and that was just how he liked it, plus he hadn't found anyone that he wanted to keep around for much longer than the time it took to come, so there was that too.

Luke said he was missing out and just needed to find the right person, but Luke was currently the one being hit in the head with a football because he had been worrying about something (read: somebody) all practice, so he has no valid opinion on the matter.

This wasn't exactly new, Luke being a bit out of it during practice, and Calum knew the reason for it. “Is it that boy of yours again?” he asks the blonde boy, after pulling him to his feet for what feels like the hundredth time that week, fully knowing the answer already.

“No, of course not.” Luke says, forgetting that Calum could tell if he was lying even if he was both blind and deaf.

“Bullshit, I know I'm right. When do I get to meet this boy anyway, you talk about him all the time and I don't even know who he is?” he says, only actually realising just how true that is once he's finally said it.

Okay, so it's not like Calum is a complete romance-scrooge, he's not against people having relationships and all that, it's just not for him. At all. He wants Luke to be happy and he wants to meet to guy who makes him happy.

“Alright, I might be seeing him after school, you can come along if you like?” Luke tells him, the coach's whistle going off behind him and Calum smiles, running back into position.

_it wont be so bad_

_maybe he'll have a hot friend_

 

~oOo~

 

A few things had changed in Michael's life in the past two years.

His hair colour, more times than he could count. He decided that he did not in fact like sweetcorn and that yes, you can put ketchup with pretty much anything if you were brave or stupid enough. He met Ashton only a few months ago when the new boy wandered into the theatre after school, looking for the drama club and they had become fast friends since.

One thing which had stayed oh so very painfully the same, was the huge, gigantic, can-be-seen-from-space crush he had on one particular football player.

Which you know, would be fine if like Calum was on the side team but no, _everybody_ knew Calum Hood one of the 'stars of the squad' which meant there was practically no escape. That and the fact that it wasn't exactly a secret that he had a habit of sleeping around, not that Michael minded this at all but it was hearing about it which drove him crazy.

As if he didn't think about being with Calum enough, he had to listen to the lucky sods who actually got to have him that way. And Michael can't actually remember hearing anything bad about the golden boy, which made him both really exited but bloody depressed when he remembered he probably wouldn't even get to talk to him, never mind any of the other stuff.

He hadn't even told Ashton about the whole 'I-know-I-say-I-hate-football-players-but-I-kinda-have-this-huge-thing-for-one-of-them' thing, because hey, if he ignores it long enough it'll go away right? It's just taking a little longer than he thought is all. So when the other boy comes barging angrily into Michael's room one day, ranting about this asshole of a guy in the school toilets, he doesn't pay him that much mind. (the game demanded his full attention okay!) That was until a familiar name cropped up.

“I mean, who does he think he is waltzing in with his blue eyes and perfect hair, just expecting me to say yes because 'oh I'm Luke Hemmings and I can do what ever I want because everyone lo-'”

“Woah, woah, back up there angry tits.” Michael says, looking away from the screen – pausing it first of course, he hasn't completely lost his mind – at his pacing best friend. “Who are you talking about again?”

Ashton stops pacing and falls down on the bed beside him, “Luke Hemmings, you know who that is, right?” he sighs loudly.

_calum hood's best friend, practically his freaking shadow_

_wait has ashton talked to him??_

_has he talked to calum to??_

_would he have mentioned me to him??_

_oh fuck would that be good or bad i-_

“Mike, did you hear me?” Ashton asks, peering up at him, the top of his head pressed against Michael's thigh.

He clears his throat quickly, “Um, yeah he's one of the football dicks, right?” he says, casually as can be while not looking at the other boy, just in case his eyes have formed little images of Calum in them like a weird version of heart eyes or something...

_wow, i need to get some more sleep_

Ashton makes a hum of approval, “Yeah, that's him and guess what happened...”

Michael tunes out again when it becomes clear that this conversation has nothing to do with Calum, not that he doesn't listen...he just doesn't pay Ashton his full attention. It's not unlike any other rant about the 'jock breed' that they have had over the past few months, sure Michael thinks they are stuck up, arrogant pricks but it's gotten to the point where he can barely even consider letting anyone know about his feelings for Calum.

He's thought about telling Ashton of course, but then something will come up and they will both be set off again. And Michael is just far to stubborn to actually come out and say it, it's out there now and he will deny any and all fond feelings towards anyone who so much as holds a football.

(The ironic thing was that Michael had started to think that Ashton didn't hate footballers as much as he said he did. There was just a lot more talk of Luke Hemmings' 'stupidly broad shoulders' over the past day which suggested otherwise. Call him crazy and all.)

Yeah, so he has a few issues. It wasn't like he was going to have to be around Calum or Luke Hemmings any time soon which meant he was safe in his little ball of denial. Michael was quite happy like this, with his games, his music, his food, painting sets in his spare time and he had Ashton. He loved Ashton.

~

Michael hated Ashton.

Ashton and his stupid fucking _feelings._

Actually that wasn't fair... It was Ashton _and_ Luke and both their stupid fucking feelings.

They were the reason his whole, 'Michael hates jocks' reputation was in trouble, deep deep trouble. He had been fine when it had been just Luke, partly because he was genuinely concerned about Ashton getting involved in this shit again and so had given the tall blonde a decent interrogation. Which had all been fine and lovely for a couple of weeks, Luke would show up, Michael would make a few comments every so often, when he felt things were getting a little too friendly, and the world would be right again.

It was easy, he was coping with that, but honestly it was only a matter of time until it would happen. Until Michael saw a very familiar face behind Luke, coming towards him and Ashton in the diner one afternoon after school. He had never realised until now how weird it had been to see Luke without Calum outside school, until he actually saw him with the other boy out in public.

Heading straight towards him. Calum Hood was coming towards him and Michael had forgotten how to breathe.

_shit, is this what a heart attack feels like?_

Now, when Michael panics he tends to over compensate, just to reassure people (read: himself) that his mind hasn't changed, because he is a stubborn arse who can't admit when he has had a change of opinion. Another thing that happens is that he clearly looses all use of normal, rational brain function, which is the only explanation for what happens when the two players reach his and Ashton's booth.

“ _Another one!_ Are we fucking collecting them now or something?” Michael cries, turning to Ashton, who is glaring slightly at him but then Calum Hood is looking at him, in a slightly confused 'should-I-be-scared-of-this-person' way and muttering something in Luke's ear who laughs before nodding to Ashton.

And Michael wants to melt into the chair right now, but he settles with grabbing his drink, hoping that'll stop more stupid shit coming out of his mouth. He can hope anyway.

Hell, maybe this would be a good thing, meeting Calum. Maybe he will actually turn out to be just like all his other jock friends and Michael can stop living in some weird state of hope that he might be different? Maybe this will finally be his chance to get over this stupid fucking crush? But then half way through Luke's threatening of milkshake spillage and Michael's hopes come crashing down with two simple sentences.

“Luke didn't tell me you were a drama guy.” Calum says, interrupting the dairy threats and bringing the green haired boy back into the real world with the sound of his voice. (which he definitely didn't want to record and listen to forever, no because that would be creepy as shit.) “I've always kinda fancied doing that sort of thing.” he adds, casually sipping on his drink as if he hadn't just shit on Michael's hopes of getting over this boy any time soon.

The rest of the time he managed not to do anything stupid, well anything else. Okay so he looked at Calum a little bit more than he would usually look at someone who wasn't talking much but he just couldn't help himself, he hadn't been this close to him in two years and even then that had been for about a second as he brushed past. Michael was quieter than usual, but no one seemed to notice and soon he even felt like he had recovered enough to start taking the piss again.

Well, who could help themselves when they had as good material as the two love birds in front of him. Currently looking at each other with such bloody fondness that something had to be said. “Oh god, again with they eye fucking?” he groans, already preparing his smirk in response to the warning look he knows Ashton is going to give him, when there is something swatting his leg under the table.

“Hey, stop it they're cute.” Calum scolds, but his eyes are smiling as they meet Michael's over the table and yep...there goes his breathing again and his mind in a state of:

_calum touched me_

_calum hood touched my leg_

_calum looked at me_

_calum fucking touched me_

This was either the best or the worst day ever, Michael just didn't know which yet.

 

~oOo~

 

Calum was happy. Happy that Luke had found someone who was actually nice and seemed to genuinely like him, not just want him because he was on the football team. Luke was happy so Calum was happy.

The whole afternoon had been nice, finally meeting Ashton who was just like what he had imagined the boy to be like. It was Michael who caught Calum by surprise to be honest, well partly because he had assumed it would just be Ashton who they were meeting. So when he saw the boy with bright green hair sat in the booth, he couldn't help but be a little curious.

Which turned out to be a feeling that lingered even as they were going to leave. Calum couldn't put his finger on it, but this something, this feeling somehow made him go up to Michael, point to the teenage mutant ninja turtle tank he was wearing and say, “Hey, I like your shirt by the way.”

The other boy blinked at him for a second before glancing down at his shirt, pulling on the hem, “Thanks, I was pretty obsessed with them as a kid.” he says, smiling gently down at the image before looking back at Calum, “Woke up early to watch the cartoon on weekends and everything.”

Calum felt his face light up at that, “Seriously, me too! My sister used to hate it because I woke her up...Oh man, I loved that show.” he gushes, encouraged at how Michael seems to get more confidence watching him, “Who was your favourite then?”

Michael snorts, pointing at the turtle with the orange mask, “Michaelangelo, duh.” he says, grinning widely, “That dude was awesome.”

“Well at least you match.” Calum points out, nodding at the other boys hair, who's hand comes up to run his fingers through it, and Calum has the weirdest little niggle of a urge to know what it feels like.

Before he had too much time to think about it Michael is talking again, “Yeah I guess I do.” he smiles, green eyes crinkling up at the corners. And they match too now he thinks about it, and kinda wants to say it too but that's not exactly something you say to the guy you just met that afternoon. No matter how cute he is.

_wait what?_

“Cal are you getting a lift back with me?” Luke calls over, fishing out his car keys from his pocket.

“Um, yeah I am.” Calum replies, a funny hollow weight settling in his stomach which wasn't there ten seconds before. He ignores it, turning back to Michael, “I'll see you around I guess?” he says with a small smile, starting to head off to Luke's car.

The other boy nods, “Yeah, looks like it...it was er – nice to meet you...Calum.”

“You too, Michael.” Calum says, with a wave of his hand as he jogs off to catch up with Luke. The lead-like feeling in his stomach is still there even when he goes to sleep that evening. Calum ignores it, maybe it was the fries? Yeah, that was it...dodgy fries, that's all it was.

It couldn't be anything else, could it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come say hi, talk to me, ask me about my toast preferences, anything (cliffakitten.tumblr.com) xx


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, beautiful babes! 
> 
> how are you all?? I've not got much to say today, because it's 2:30am and I'm pretty sleepy cos I needed to finish this chapter, so apologies if the ending is odd or anything. but yeah, onwards! xx

It turns out that building up some kind of level of friendship with the guy who you've been crushing on for nearly two years, is much easier than Michael thought it would have been.

Of course, it helped that Calum could basically do no wrong when ever the two talked. It was actually getting ridiculous, they liked the same bands, the same movies, the same video games, and if Michael thought that meeting the other boy would ever help him to get his sorry ass over him, then he had been very, extremely wrong.

Calum was quiet to start off with, not in a bad way, but the first week or so when the four boys started meeting up at the diner after school, theatre stuff or practice, Calum didn't say much. He laughed and smiled with the three other boys and when his gorgeous dark eyes met Michael's, that one time when they had been laughing so hard there were tears in their eyes, the green haired boy couldn't look away. It was like looking at the sun, he knew it would be bad for him but he did it anyway.

It only got worse when Calum began joining in more with the conversations, and Michael had no idea just how much of a turn on sass was for him until it came from the jock.

_great_

_now he's gorgeous, interesting and sassy_

_can't you cut a guy a break here?_

In no time at all, just like that and without him even knowing it, those few hours spent in the diner with his best friend and two of the most popular guys in his school, had quickly become the highlight of Michael's week. That was really the only time he saw Calum, save from the odd smile if they happened to pass in the school halls, which never failed to brighten Michael's day.

Which is why he nearly fell from the huge, fake tree he was assembling after school one Thursday, about a month since this whole thing started, when he saw Calum edging his way down one of the aisle in the theatre. He had _just_ got used to the sight of Luke being around but seeing the other boy checking around the place hesitantly, was like seeing a fish out of water. He hadn't seemed to notice Michael in the tree, it was in the corner and a big ass tree so he didn't blame him, didn't stop him from calling out though.

“Do my eyes deceive me or is that _the_ Calum Hood in my theatre?” he laughs when the other boy jumps slightly, eyes finding Michael in the tree and smirking as he pulls himself up onto the stage. Michael tries not to look at the way the muscles in his arms flex, he really does...for about a second, what can he say he's weak.

“Shut up, and oh is it your theatre now?” Calum chuckles, walking over to the base of the tree and looking up, eyes smiling at the green haired boy. “Funny, I don't see a sign anywhere?”

“It's mine in spirit, so it still counts.” Michael states, “Means I get to choose who gets in here, so you should think yourself lucky that I like you.” he adds, throwing in a wink in there because he was feeling daring today, so fuck it.

The sound of Calum's laugh floats up and he smiles to himself, “Oh it's lucky is it, well that's not exactly what I would call it.”

Michael brandishes the large scissors he was using, putting on his best warning face. Which was pretty hard when you had Calum Hood looking up at you with the cheekiest grin on his stupidly perfect face. “Careful Hood, I'm not afraid to use these on that cute little quiffy business you got going on there.”

Calum frowns, bottom lip pushed out as he puts a hand to his hair. Michael wants to bite it. “It's the showers, okay.” he mutters and well _there's_ an image the other boy really doesn't need right now.

He clears his throat instead, praying that his voice doesn't come out weird as he asks, “So, what are you doing here, you know apart from to enjoy the scenery of course.” he jokes, gesturing to himself.

Michael expects Calum to wave him off, tell him to shut up, get over himself, maybe something along the lines of 'in your dreams Clifford'. But he doesn't, he doesn't say anything actually. Instead Michael feels those dark eyes run over his whole body and Calum's face takes on a whole other look to his usual puppy dog self, and it sends a shiver over the other boy's skin. The whole moment is over in a second before Calum's shrugging, “Was just looking for Luke, thought he might be around here, since well you know...the thing with Ashton.”

It takes a moment but Michael manages to form a some what intelligent answer, his head still filled with the image of the other boy's face not a minute earlier. “You're a bit early, he usually pops in later.”

“Oh.” Calum says, hands finding his pockets and he starts shuffling on his feet like he's getting ready to leave, but Michael suddenly realises he doesn't want him to.

“-Do you mind if I-”

“-You want to come up-”

“-Sorry-”

“-Sorry-”

Both boy's faces break out into wide bashful grins, eye's flickering between each other and their own feet before Calum says, “I was going to ask if you would mind if I stayed?” and there's something in his expression that looks as if he is genuinely worried that Michael might actually say no.

_like that'll ever happen_

“Well good thing for you, I was going to say you could come up here...if you want to of course, like you don't have to -”

“Mikey!” Calum says, stopping the green-haired boys rambling and stepping closer to the tree, an amused look on his face. “It's fine, I want to.” he tells him but all that's in Michael's head is

_mikey mikey mikey mikey mikey mikey mikey_

_he called me mikey_

Then he realises that Calum is waiting for some sort of response that isn't just a glazed over, wide eyed stare. “Oh – it's um, there's a ladder on this side.” he says, pointing down to the side of the tree and watching Calum smile quickly at him before making his way up, and sitting beside Michael.

_ugh he even smells amazing today_

_aaaand that's enough creepy as fuck for this century_

“So,” the dark haired boy says, folding his legs on the stand and lacing his fingers together, like a six year old at storytime. Which Michael so doesn't find totally adorable. “What do you actually do?” he asks and Michael quirks a brow at him, before he stutters slightly, “I mean, something that doesn't sound quite as dickish as that did, sorry.”

And this is it, Michael thinks, this is why it's so easy to be around Calum. Because he's not cool, he's not smooth...well not in the way you would expect a star of the football team to be anyway. He's just simple, just says shit without thinking and it's weirdly endearing, it's just...Calum.

“Set design mostly.” he says, very much aware of the other boys eyes on him, which was fine before but now that they are closer, it's sending Michael's heart racing, so he busies himself with clipping a few paper leaves here and there. “But sometimes I help out with the music stuff, if I'm not needed as back stage help.”

Calum's whole body turns closer at that, head coming down to rest on his closed hands. “Really, what do you play?” he asks.

Michael smirks, picking up some more leave cut outs to attach to branches, “Why don't you guess?”

The other boy rolls his eyes, “Fine, alright...the triangle?” he grins, cheekily and Michael looks back over at him, a mocking look of shock on his face.

“How _dare_ you!” he gasps, the effect of his hand flying to his chest, slightly taken away when he nearly cuts his chin with the scissors in his hand.

Calum just laughs, “Watch yourself, um...piano?”

“Nope, try again.”

“Trumpet?”

Michael fixes him with a blank expression and says in his best unimpressed voice, “Do I look like I would play the trumpet?” and really that was pretty good he thought, even managed to keep his lips from twitching up at the corners.

“No, you _look_ like you would play the triangle.” Calum teases and Michael swats his shoulder as revenge, but both boys are laughing. Loud enough for it to echo around the empty theatre and for them to not notice they had company until a familiar voice shouts out.

“What the hell are you two doing in a tree?”

The two boys turn to find Luke pulling himself up on to the stage.

_seriously, what is it with these jocks, the frickin stairs are right there?!_

It's Calum who answers with, “Nothin, just hangin around.” and Michael snorts as the dark haired boy offers his hand out for a high five, while Luke looks so done with their shit already.

“Do you know where, Ashton is?” he asks, and they can both tell he's trying to keep his tone as casual as he possibly can.

“Back in the dressing rooms.” Michael tells him, smirking as they watch Luke try not to practically sprint off back stage.

_bless him_

He hears Calum sigh deeply, “That boy is so whipped.”

Michael scoffs, “I think they both are.”

After that there's a comfortable silence, nothing but the sound of the scissors clipping away at the paper before Calum says, “Could...could I help, like if you don't mind that is?”

The green haired boy pauses mid cut, turning to face him, “Sure, it's not that hard.” he says, handing some cut out twigs and leaves over to the other boy, along with the staple gun. “If I cut them out, can you attach the leaves on to the twigs?”

Calum nods, although he picks up the stapler, eyeing carefully, “Um how exactly do you...?” he asks, fingers messing around with the metal handles until Michael reaches out and takes them in his own. He's not sure what makes him do it, but all he knows is that he has his hands on Calum Hood's and this may be the best fucking day of his life so far.

“There.” he says, once he's moved Calum's hands into the right position, the excessive touching was completely necessary of course. “Now you're ready to go.” he finishes, looking back up and suddenly finding his breath being taken away, not expecting the other boy's face to be that close to his own. Dark, gorgeous eyes locking on to his and Calum goes to say something, mouth opens and the words are right there, waiting but nothing happens. The two boys just look at each other for the longest moment before Calum breaks off.

“Right, got it.” he says, moving to start attaching the leaves, seemingly unaffected ( _well why would he be, you idiot)_ while Michael tries to get his heart rate back under control.

This boy is going to kill him, one of these days.

 

~oOo~

 

Calum didn't know how long he and Michael worked on that tree, but it seemed all too soon that they were joined by Luke and Ashton.

“Hey guys, ready to go?” Ashton asks, “Or has Mike enslaved you, Calum?”

“Oy, he offered alright.” Michael says, once again pointing his scissors in a threatening manner, this time not at the dark hair boy. “But, sure, you ready Calum?”

He nods, because that seemed like the right thing to do. Even if he didn't want to, even if for some reason he found himself wanting to tell Luke to take Ashton and go to the diner themselves, leave Michael with him. What, he was enjoying his company, it didn't mean anything. It didn't.

So the four boys head off to their usual diner, order their usual orders, sit in their usual seats and chat about their usual things. But something feels different, like the wiring inside Calum's head has changed to pick up everything Michael does. Every twitch, every laugh, he seems almost hyper aware of the other boy and it sets a funny feeling in his gut, something that's been happening a lot more lately.

_it's nothing it's nothing it's nothing_

Michael laughs and Calum's stomach flips.

_it's nothing_

_he's cute, you think he's cute, that's it_

_it's nothing_

It stays that way the entire time, right up until they are staying goodbye and Michael starts to walk away from him. Which is when a voice that sounds remarkably like Calum's own is calling, “Michael, wait!” and well, he's not walking away any more, nice one brain what the hell do you want to do now? Well, what does he want? To talk to Michael, to keep talking to Michael. Alright then.

The green haired boy comes back over, a slightly confused look on his face and Calum just goes for it. “So, since our best friends are hopelessly gone for each other, it looks like we'll be seeing more of each other.” he says, smiling when the other boy smirks over at their two friends, both too deep in conversation with each other to notice them. “And I thought that maybe...we should swap numbers, maybe? If you like, because I like talking to you and I think we could be good friends.”

He doesn't miss the way Michael's smile falls slightly and Calum's stomach drops along with it. God damn why is he this nervous about this? “Yeah, okay, of course.” the other boy says, pulling his phone out of his pocket, “Here, put your number in.”

Calum does, handing it back to Michael, who flashes him a wide grin, one that makes his eyes crinkle and is quickly becoming one of Calum's favourite things apparently.

_so i like his smile, that doesn't mean anything_

“Awesome, I'll text you. Night, Cal.” he says, starting his way back over to where Ashton was now waiting for him.

It's not like Calum checks his phone any more than usual the rest of that day, he just happens to have thought he heard it go off more than usual, is all. He was _not_ waiting for a certain green haired boy to text him and it certainly wasn't controlling his life. It wasn't as if he 'liked' Michael, he just liked talking to him and happened to think he was cute. That was entirely different.

So what if he tried to ignore the warm feeling spreading through him, or the disappointment when his phone buzzed and it was a known number. He couldn't possibly like him, or anyone for that matter, the idea that kept creeping into his head, the little voice that whispered that that was exactly what was happening, scared him.

But when his phone lit up that evening and the text on the screen read:

_btw i play the guitar ;)_

and the warmth spread through out Calum's whole body as fast as the smile grew on his face. He wasn't scared of the feeling at all, the rush, the thumping beat of his heart, none of it...

Which is what scared him the most.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come talk to me, i need attention ;) (cliffakitten.tumblr.com)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so so so so so so so so so sorry for the two week wait! (fucking hell!) it was the end of the semester and i had work and blah blah blah...but im back home and writing again :)
> 
> so here have this extra long chapter as an apology for the wait, it was written in tiny little bits when ever i could so sorry if it seems a bit shit in places, oh and my 'b' and 'k' are being weird so if you see a missing one any where ...sorry :S

 

**Cal:** _ i just dont get why they didnt have the eagles take them all the way to the mountain? _

 

**Mikey:** _ cos then theyd be no story cal _

 

**Mikey:** _ use your imagination ;) _

 

**Cal:** _ but it makes no sense!!! _

 

**Mikey:** _ its a fantasy film. its not supposed to make sense _

 

**Cal:** _ :/ :/ :/ :/  _

 

**Cal:** _ how the shit does THE FRICKIN BIRD know where the magical hidden door is??!! _

 

**Mikey:** _ what part of 'fantasy film' are you struggling with here babe? ;)  _

 

Calum blinked staring down at his phone, the credits for The Hobbit reeling off in the background, his eye focused on the one singular word at the end of Michael's text. It wasn't new for the other boy to just throw the occasional endearment towards the football player, the odd 'you're cute' or 'awesome hair today by the way'. And usually Calum could brush it off with a quick smile before quickly changing the subject, trying to ignore the fluttery feeling in his gut. 

Now he stares at the four little letters and before he could stop it, the corners of his mouth had turned up into a wide smile.

_great now i'm the weirdo smiling at his phone in the dark, alone in his room_

_great, just great_

It had been a week since he and Michael had swapped numbers and Calum still couldn't figure out if it had been one of his better decisions or one of the worst. The thing was...Michael was great. He was funny, he was nice and talking to him was one of the easiest things in the whole world, Calum should know he had been doing little else for the best part of the week.

Sure, it just happened that he also thought Michael was pretty cute as well. Which was the soul explanation that he gave for the heavy feeling in his gut each time his phone buzzed, and the sinking sensation when (admittedly on that rare occasion) it wasn't the green haired boy. It wasn't like Calum didn't  _ allow _ himself to find people attractive, hell he found a lot of people attractive, which is why he fooled around with them. 

But he didn't  _ know _ them. Not like he knows Michael. 

Knowing people you fooled around with was dangerous, that's how feelings happened. And feeling were bad, very very bad.

 

**Mikey:** _ hey, you wanna come around to mine tomorrow and watch the lord of the rings??  _

 

**Mikey:** _ ash refuses to watch them again with me so i need a viewing buddy :) _

 

Calum jumped as his phone went off again, his sleep deprived mind reading over and over the message, trying to take it in properly. Michael was asking to spend time with him. Without the other two. Alone...well with Michael obviously but, like just them two hanging out like friends would.

That was another thing Calum didn't really do, friends. Yes he had Luke, but he was there before the days when he ruled all romantic feelings out of his life, and he fooled around with too many people at school to ever really make proper friends. The kind that you met up with after school, text over the weekend about something that wasn't about work.

Calum had forgotten what it was like. Michael and Ashton where the closest thing to new friends he had had in years and it was nice. He liked meeting up at the same diner after school, hearing what shit had gone down between the drama kids, or him and Luke explaining how the rules of football worked over fries and milkshakes.

It was just  _ nice _ . 

And he didn't want to loose that by getting feelings for the other boy. Didn't want to ruin this before it had properly started yet.

It was when his phone buzzed again that Calum remembered he hadn't actually replied to Michael.

 

**Mikey:** _ not that im trying to bribe you at all...but my collection of unhealthy, diabetes causing snacks is pretty impressive _

 

**Mikey:** _ but again. totally not a bribe ;) _

 

Calum snorted at his phone, typing out a reply before pausing, his thumb hovering over the 'send' icon. He could do this, it didn't matter how cute he thought Michael was or how kissable his lips were...which was very now Calum thought about it. But no, he wasn't going to go there. People don't think that about their friends, they just didn't.

Before any more stupid, friendship-endangering thoughts could pop into his head, he closed his eyes and pressed 'send' locking his phone, putting it down on the side table and tried to sleep.

 

** Cal:  ** _ sounds like a plan. i hope you have toffee popcorn ;)  _

 

 

~oOo~

 

Michael couldn't remember the last time he had been this happy.

Probably never...Okay so that was a slight exaggeration, but he figured he was allowed to be a little over the top given the circumstances. After all, it wasn't every day that you spend a solid week successfully texting the guy you had had a hopeless crush on for the past two years.

Sure, it was still probably a hopeless crush and Michael considered himself lucky that Calum was even giving him the time of day, never mind staying up until ridiculous hours of the morning marathon-ing the hobbit movies with him. So all things considered, Michael was very happy, and he may have been having a little trouble hiding it.

Ashton had picked up on it of course, nearly making him drop the tin of paint all over the other boy when after school in the theatre, Ashton had blurted out, “So, what are you going to do about this huge, gigantic crush you have on Calum then?”

Michael froze, he could hear the smirk in his little shit of a friend's voice. “What, I don't have a crush on him, he's a jock don't be stupid.” he spluttered, busying himself with the pots of paint.

“Yes you do.” Ashton had practically sang, coming up behind him. “You liiiike him, you want to kiiiiss him. Michael and Calum sitting in a tree k-i-s-”

“ _Okay!_ ” he said, dropping one of the tins down loudly, “So I have a _little_ bit of a thing for the guy, so what?” Ashton backed away slightly, hands held in the air and the smirk still on his face.

“Nothing, nothing at all. I think you would be cute together, actually.” he muttered and Michael didn't blush, he didn't.

Then there was how he kept saying how cute Calum was. Michael had never really caught on to the whole 'think before you speak thing' which meant that when ever the dark haired boy did something particularly adorable...like breathing...he just said it. The thing was he would feel more embarrassed about it, if he didn't have a sneaking suspicion that Calum actually enjoyed it.

It was a good thing Michael currently had a straw in his mouth, because he was watching the boy in question poking a fry into Luke's (who was going through a crisis or something) cheek, with the most adorable smile on his face. Michael was just about ready to combust, instead he sucks on the straw so hard he thinks he could pick up the cup with it at this point.

“Stop being such a drama queen, everybody knows that's Michael's job.” Calum is saying and there is the same soft fondness to his voice, as there is in the small smile and warm look in his eyes when he glances at Michael over the table.

“It's a good thing you're cute.” he mutters, glancing back up from his shake to find those dark eyes still on him and his heart jumps in his chest. That's when Ashton finally arrives, and Michael is watching Calum dip his fries into his milkshake. Really, it's a good judge of just how completely and utterly fucked he is at this point, when he even thinks _that_ cute instead of the gross abomination that it is.

And now he has to spend a whole evening with him.

_great move, clifford_

 

_~_

 

Calum wasn't nervous.

Why would he be, he was just going to his mates house. Because that is what Michael was, his mate, his friend, his pal, his buddy, someone which Calum felt no ulterior feelings for. It was lust, plain, simple and completely under control.

He was walking with his _friend_ , to his _friend's_ house, to watch movies with his _friend_. If the fact that his heart felt like it was ready to beat out of his chest, it was only because he must need to spend some more time in the gym, clearly the walk was getting to him. It most definitely wasn't the fact that Michael was right there, next to him. Just the two of them on the way to the green haired boy's house, just them, alone.

Calum glanced down, the other boy's hand swinging by his side and he has the most ridiculous urge to reach out and take it in his own. To find out how his skin would feel, soft, rough, warm, cold. He had done a lot of things over the past two years, to the point where Luke jokes he has more sexual experience than most adults do.

But Calum had never held someone's hand. He thinks about it now and it's kind of sad and pathetic. Sure he's had sex, a lot of sex, his sex life is another teenager's wet god damn dream, and here he is _craving_ to reach out and take this guy, this gorgeous guy's hand in his own and walk down the street.

_i feel like a damn fourteen year old_

_how pathetic am I_

“Um, this is it.” Michael is saying, pointing at the house on their left and pushing open the gate and showing Calum into his house. “I'll just grab a few things from the kitchen, but my rooms upstairs second on the right if you wanna head up.” he says, throwing his bag to the floor. Calum nods, placing his own down beside Michael's and watching him head into the kitchen as he goes upstairs.

When he gets to Michael's room he doesn't quite know what to do with himself. The room is covered in posters, movie ones, band one and video games ones, there's an impressive selection of xbox games stacked in the corner and more movies than Calum thinks he's ever seen in his life lined up on a shelf over the window. A desk and tv on one side and the bed on the other, complete with iron man duvet.

He's still grinning at it when Michael appears at the door, arms filled with bags of snacks and a six pack of coke dangling from his fingers. “What, what are you smiling at?” he asks, eyeing the dark haired boy suspiciously, throwing the food on to the bed.

“Nothing,” Calum says, rocking on the balls of his feet. “Nice duvet by the way.” he adds when Michael falls onto it beside the pile of snacks.

“Yeah well I know you're jealous, it's fine totally understandable.” he says, picking a packet out of the pile and throwing it to Calum. “Toffee popcorn, as requested.” he winks as the other boy tries to contain the look of shock on his face.

_holy shit he remembered_

He stares at the popcorn while Michael arranges the pillows against the wall, grabbing the coke cans and opening two, offering one out to Calum, “What are you doing, come sit down, you nitwit.” he laughs.

Calum jumps, he doesn't think he's jumped in years, or been this awkward in front of anyone. It was frustrating, he's know how to work people for so long, how to look at them, what to say and when to get exactly the reaction you want, suddenly not being able to do that scares him. Being with Michael alone, scares him. The fact that he can't figure out what he feels for Michael, scares him.

Calum Hood is scared of Michael Clifford.

So naturally, he jumps straight onto the bed like he would if he was at Luke's, settling down next to the green haired boy. “I see you're fully prepared for nine hours of movie watching.” he laughs, flicking through the collection of snacks between them.

“Actually I thought we'd only watch the first one tonight.” Michael says, “Wouldn't want to overwhelm you.”

“Your mum wouldn't let you on a school night would she?”

“She is a terrifying woman, okay!”

“Wow, listening to your mum how very punk rock of you.”

“I will steal back that toffee popcorn, Hood, don't think I wont.”

~

It's late by the time the credits start to roll and Calum just knows, he's going to get an earful when he gets home, but he couldn't give less of a shit because he had had the best time with Michael.

He realises that he doesn't actually want to leave, he wants to stay and talk to the other boy some more, wants to hear him laugh, wants to lay around not talking at all with music playing around them for hours. But then they're at the door again and Calum is pulling his bag onto his shoulder as Michael waits by the door.

He's dressed in his sweats and baggy shirt, his hairs all fluffy from the number of times he ran his hands through it and sticking up at different angles, and his green eyes are sleepy but they still manage to shine when he smiles at Calum. Both boys stand their for a moment, staring at each other, Michael starts to chew on his stupidly pink, bottom lip.

_god i want to kiss him_

Over the evening Calum had come to terms with this fact, there's only so much time he could spend with someone he found as attractive as he did Michael, and not be absolutely sure of what he wants to do to him. But it wasn't just that any more, he couldn't stop thinking of before, the urge he had to take hold of Michael's hand, how it didn't stop there. How he didn't just want to kiss him, have him once or twice like everyone else he was with. Calum wanted to spend his time with Michael, sit with him in school, meet him out of class, hold his hand under the table at the diner. Lay around with him in their rooms and not have to leave, to fall asleep with him, curled up with his back pressed against Calum's chest and he can press kisses to the back of his neck as he falls asleep and-

_oh shit fuck i like him_

_crap he's opening the door what do i do?_

“This was fun.” Michael says once Calum is on the front step and this is the least confident he has seen the other boy all night, which makes him feel better for some weird reason, like he's not the only one.

“Yeah, so when are we watching the second?” Calum says, smiling which seems to ease the other boy up.

He shrugs, “We'll figure something out, you're a good movie buddy so I'm definitely keeping you around, whether you like it or not.” Calum can feel his heart going a thousand miles a minute as he steps slightly closer, battling with whether or not to just lean forward and kiss the boy. “So I guess I'll see you soon?” Michael is staying, and then he's coming at Calum, and his arms are around his neck, chest pressed against the dark haired boy's. And he can't help but turn his head slightly, burying his nose into the side of Michael's neck, hands circling around his lower back and smiling when he feels the arms around him tighten slightly at that.

When they pull away, Calum can feel the other boys breath on his face and Michael is glancing from his eyes to his lips and it would be easy, so very easy to just - “Yeah see you around.” he blurt out instead, waving quickly and turning down the path without a second glance back.

_damn should i have kissed him?_

_i really wanted to_

_did he want too_

_i think he might have_

_i want him to_

_i want to_

…

_fuck it im going to kiss him_

Calum turns on his heel, striding back towards the Clifford house. He's so ready, he can do this it's going to be fine, he's read the signs right, he's pretty sure Michael wouldn't push him away. But what if he does, what if Calum has read this wrong and it's just another Macie Jenkins waiting to happen?

The door is right in front of him now, Calum has his hand raised and ready but he can't do it. He can't risk that happening again, there's a reason he doesn't do the whole 'feelings and liking people' thing and this is why. He turns, dropping his hand and walking down the path again. Maybe he doesn't like Michael? Maybe this whole thing is just because he hasn't gotten laid in a while and there are all these weird needs springing up because of it.

Yeah, that's it, his brain is just sex-deprived which meant those clingy 'needy' feelings were harder to keep down. Calum pulled out his phone, scrolling through to find some one who would be available and willing to tend to this particular problem. It was shitty and he knew that, but by the time he had reached his house and scrolled through all his contacts at least three times, there was still no one he felt like he wanted.

_that's because you only want a certain green haired boy_

_shut up_

Calum drops his bag by the door and slumps up the stair to the bathroom, turning on the shower and pulling his shirt over his head. He needs to just not think for a while, clear his head before he even attempts to sleep. The shoes, jeans and underwear follow and then there is burning hot water hitting his back and his loud sigh echoing around the bathroom.

He looked at his phone on the top of his shirt and still attempted flicking through the people he knew who might be up for it in his head, but gave up pretty quickly. Damnit this was ridiculous, and if he couldn't find someone, then he's have to take care of it himself.

Turning to face the tiles, with one hand braced against the wall and the other moving down to wrap around himself, moving slowly as his mind came up with a decent image to go along with it. It was a guy today, broad shoulders and pale white skin that Calum wanted to cover with marks, make the guy moan underneath him as his hand moved faster, fingers scraping at the tiles as his heavy breathing filled the room.

He imagined the other guys hand around his dick, moving at the same desperate speed of Calum's own, as he nips at the guys collar bone with his teeth, working his way up his neck...green hair tickling at his nose and he's so close. The tight heat in his gut building and building with each stroke of his hand, each twist of his wrist. Then he runs his thumb over the head and he's coming on to the tiles loudly, barely registering the broken “ _Michael!_ ” that bounces around the room, ringing in his ears.

_shit_

_shit_

“Shit.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next part soon as i can what with christmas prep and the like <3 xx


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *offers cake of apology*  
> I'm so so so so so so sorry for the nearly three week wait, but there were the holidays and I had /another/ bit of work to get through and I've been planning out a much much longer lashton fic (two in fact) so that should be here soon, once I get this one done and dusted of course :) 
> 
> but yeah, I hope you all had a lovely christmas and a decent new year, hopefully I should be able to update this more often now, but I offer up a double long chapter as apology :) xx

 

Michael doesn't think he's ever been this confused about his feelings in his whole life.

On one hand, he is on cloud frickin nine, feels as if he's floating on air, like he could scale a bloody mountain...okay, maybe not _that_ good, but still pretty damn good. All because he had spent a whole evening with his crush of two years, a whole evening and he hadn't made a dick of himself.

Until the end of it, that is.

Once it latched back into place with a tiny 'click', Michael leant back against the door and slide down it slowly with his hands over his face. “Why did you hug him, you fucking idiot.” he muttered to himself, shaking his head. “Ugh, I made that so awkward, why couldn't I be cool just once, shit!”

_wait, i just hugged calum hood_

_i hugged calum freakin hood_

“And he hugged me back.” Michael breathes, hands slowly falling from his face, which he was pretty certain now resembled that of a person who had very recently taken a lot of drugs, judging from the smile he could feel forming there. “He hugged me back.” he says again, the words sinking in as he could almost feel the ghost of the other boys arms around him, the warmth of his skin, the smell of his hair.

“Oh, fuck.” Michael says, knees curling up towards his body. “Oh god, I smelt his damn hair, who does that! He's gonna think I'm a weird hair smelling freak.” he whines, stretching out dramatically face down on the floor of the hall way, “My life is over.” he informs the carpet, just as foot steps come from the kitchen.

Michael hears his mum sigh heavily, crouching down before asking in a tone both caring and slightly exasperated, “Oh, honey, which fictional character has died this time?” she asks, hand reaching out to pat her sons hair lightly.

“That would be my love life, mother.” the green-haired boy sighs, un moving from his current position.

His mum makes that tutting sound only mothers are apparently capable of, “But what about that nice boy who just left? You seemed to like him a lot?”

_you have no idea_

Michael rolls over so that he can see his mum's face, although from his position its upside down, but the effect is still there. “He probably is moving to another continent right now, because he's realised I'm a total weirdo.” he sighs. “Why couldn't I just tell him I like him, like a normal person would?”

“Because you're not normal, love.” his mum laughs, “In all the best ways there is to be not normal. And if this boy doesn't like that, then he's not worth it any way.”

Michael groans loudly, hands coming to cover his face again, it somehow being easier when he can't see his mum's face to say, “I really like him, mum.” into his hands. “Like, really _really_ like him.”

His mum just smiles at him, Michael can sense the strong need to roll her eyes but she doesn't, “I know you do. The fact that you're laying on the hall way floor is a bit of a give away.” she laughs, hand still stroking down his hair.

“I'm so screwed.” Michael mumbles.

“Well, if you don't let that boy know how you feel, you're not going to be any time soon.” his mum jokes, smirking down at him.

Michael freezes, staring back at his mother through the gaps in his fingers, “Did you just...” he asks slowly, before shooting back up off the floor with a loud “Ew, ew ew ew, can we not with the comments on my sex life. Jesus mother, no.” he cries, shivering for added effect.

“You don't have a sex life, love. That's my point.”

“I am not discussing this with you.” Michael declares, jumping to his feet. “This is how kids get mentally scarred you know, I could call child services.” he says, climbing the stairs and away from this conversation.

“I just want you to be happy, honey.” his mum calls behind him.

“Not discussing it!” Michael calls back, punctuated with the slamming of his bedroom door.

 

~oOo~

 

Ashton could really be an annoying little shit sometimes.

“What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened?” he asks after school in the theatre, the next day, while poking a steadily growing irritated Michael in the arm with a single finger. “C'mon Mikey, what happened last night?”

“Nothing.” the other boy mutters, trying to arrange the chairs on the side of the stage, in a way that could fit the whole group of music people. It was more difficult than he thought and the arm poking wasn't helping in the slightest.

Ashton was sitting backward on one, arms crossed over the back and tipping it on it's legs as he reached for his friend. “Tell meeeeeeee.”

Michael sighs, stepping back and trying to hide his smirk as Ashton nearly falls flat on his face, after attempting to poke him again. “Do you think that this takes up too much stage space this way?” he muses, ignoring Ashton completely.

“Mikeeeey.”

“Aaaaaaash.”

“You're a child.”

“Says the boy who's been poking me for attention the past fifteen minutes.”

“Because the you wont answer me.”

“Cos you're being a dick.”

“You're a dick.”

“You're mum's a dick.”

“Wow, how very none child-like of you Michael.”

Michael pouts, “You started it.”

“Idiot.” Ashton mutters as he rolls his eyes.

“Jerk.”

“Man child.”

“Douche.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too, bro.... but I'm still not telling you.”

Ashton sighs heavily, falling back into the chair with his hands dangling by his sides. “Why wont you tell me, Mikey?” he asks, still with a slightly whiny tone, but more serious than any of the other times, but Michael still snaps.

“Fine, I'll tell you when you tell me what you've been getting up to that's leaving you looking tired as fuck recently!” he doesn't mean to yell, immediately feeling guilty when Ashton flinches back in the seat. He knows it's a bit of a low blow, but he also knows that Ashton will clam up, become defensive and the topic will be dropped.

Which is almost what happens. The other boy's arms fold across his chest and his gaze falls, fixating on the floor. “Piss off, Mike, m'fine.” he mutters. Which honestly is more than Michael thought he was going to get, knowing that Ashton hates being questioned and, being the stubborn arse that he is, will refuse to say anything at all about it if he wants to.

Michael sighs in defeat, walking back over to take the seat beside Ashton, “You know I just worry about you, man.” he says gently nudging the boy's arm with his elbow.

Ashton nods, arms unfolding as the corners of his mouth twitch into a small smile. “I know, I know but I worry about you too, yeah. Just want to know if my best mate is happy, is all?”

“Of course I'm happy.” Michael says easily, waving his hand through the air dismissively, until he sees the pointed look Ashton is giving him and sighs, slumping back into the chair, “Alright, I think I kinda made a idiot of myself last night in front of Calum and it's been eating me a little.” he admits, grudgingly. “But it's not like I'm dying or anything.”

Ashton is quiet for a minute and Michael can practically see the cogs working away inside his little straightened hair covered head. “Well have you talked to him since, like a text or something?” he asks.

Michael shrugs, shaking his head like it's no big deal he hadn't talked to Calum all day. Like they hadn't been texting almost non stop the past few weeks, didn't mention the fact that he hadn't heard from him today was niggling at the back of him mind.

_fuck im so clingy_

“He's probably running for the hills and we'll never see him again.” he tries to joke, laughing weakly but it dying off all together when Ashton just stares back blankly, eyebrow quirked.

“Text him. Now, do it.” the other boy orders, pointing at the phone in Michael's pocket.

“No.” Michael snorts, folding his arms defiantly.

Ashton's brow increases it's level of quirked. “Do it.”

“No.”

“Michael.”

“ _No._ ”

Both boys stare at each other, silently daring the other to back down first. There's a flicker in Ashton's eyes and for a moment, Michael thinks he has won, but then the other boy is on him, tackling him to the floor as they both land with a _huff._ Ashton's hands go straight for Michael's pocket but the green-haired boy bats him away, which is a bit hard when the other boy is on top of him, trying to pin his arms down with his legs and when did Ashton get this strong anyway?

“Jesus fuck, how are you doing this with those noodle arms?!” Michael pants, trying to wiggle an arm out from where it's been trapped under a knee.

Ashton laughs, hands digging in the pocket for the phone, “Unlike some people I do other stuff that's not just jerking off.”

Michael pauses his struggling to blink up at the other boy, “What you trying to say?”

“Oh nothing, my sexually frustrated friend. Nothing.” Ashton mutters, happily scrolling through the phone to find the text feed to Calum and it's now when Michael regrets ever letting him know the passkey.

“Sexually frustrated my ass.” Michael mutters, giving his arm another tug and getting nowhere, “Says the boy, straddling me while pinning me to the floor...does Luke know you're such a kinky bastard?”

Ashton doesn't even look at him, just swats him on the head. “Be nice or I'll tell your lovely Calum all about your STD.”

“I don't have an STD.”

“Yeah but Calum doesn't know that.” Ashton grins evilly, and everyone who is ever under the impression that this boy is all rainbows and sunshine is a fucking fool, Michael thinks.

“I hate you.” he mutters.

Ashton taps his chin, deep in fake thought, “Hmm, you look like a crabs sort of guy...maybe chlamydia...”

“Ugh, if you're going to text him just do it already. Fuck.” Michael sighs, just wanting the boy off of him at this point, his arms starting to miss their blood flow and loose all feeling in them.

There's a flurry of thumb movement before Ashton grins triumphantly, standing up and letting Michael go. “There, he's coming around to yours later.” he says, tossing the phone back to it's owner.

There's a fluttering in Michael's chest, because holy crap Calum still wants to see him, but he pushes it down in favour of a muttered, “I still hate you.”

“You can thank me later.” Ashton calls back over his shoulder as he walks off the stage.

 

~oOo~

 

Michael found that he wasn't nervous at all when he met Calum outside the theatre after school, in fact it was the easiest thing in the world to pick up the conversation Ashton had started for him. And when he saw Calum stood by the theatre door, smiling so damn brightly at him, it was all too simple to slip into the topic they had just been texting about minutes ago as they walked down the street.

Yelling a quick hello to his mum in the kitchen, the two boys race upstairs to Michael's room, dumping their stuff to the side in sync, and he doesn't smile stupidly at that, he doesn't.

“So, Mr Hood.” Michael says in a deep, movie-trailer voice as he searches his selection of DVD's. He pulls out The Two Towers and swirls around to face Calum, who had settled down on the bed with his arms under his head and a small smile on his face, looking perfectly content. His breath hitches in his throat as the idiotic thought of how he could get used to this view, enters his mind. “Are you ready to return to Middle Earth?” he finishes, voice loosing some of it's previous drama but Calum doesn't seem to notice.

“Ready when you are.” he says, expression unchanging and if he was being daring, Michael would say that it was...fondness.

“Um...while I set it up, do you want to grab the snacks? They're in the cupboard on the left of the oven.” he asks, fumbling with the case and nearly dropping it, fighting down the blush as Calum jumps up from the bed heading out with a quick, “Sure.”

It's only the second the dark haired boy leaves the room does he remember exactly who is in the kitchen, darting to the door and catching Calum just as he's about to go down stairs, “Oh and, please ignore my mother.” he calls, somewhat pleadingly down the hall.

Calum gasps, looking mockingly offended. “I most certainly will not, Michael.” before grinning and skipping down the stairs. After a few seconds of silence he hears a loud, “Hello, Mrs Clifford, I'm Calum. Michael's friend, lovely to finally meet you.”

And Michael makes sure to groan _extra_ loudly as he sinks down the door frame to the floor.

~

“I don't know why you've still got your knickers in a twist about it, your mum is a lovely woman.” Calum sniggers almost two and a half hours later, for about the eighth time. And just like the other seven times, Michael's response is to fling a handful of popcorn at his head. “You know that's just a waste of perfectly good popcorn.”

“Their sacrifice has been noted, it's for a good cause and they shall be avenged.” Michael states simply, before the pillow he was resting on is pulled from under him and he slides down the wall with it, the remaining popcorn spilling out everywhere.

“Oh no, Michael save your men. Save them.” Calum cries, laughing as he picks up handfuls of stray popcorn and drops them onto the green-haired boy's head. “They're dying, Mikey, they're dying.”

Michael swats at the offending falling snacks, “Ah, stop! I give up!” he yells, turning to bury his face in the nearest available surface. Which turns out to be really warm and it smells amazing...actually it's just like Calum did when he left last time and he...

_oh fuck, im snuggling into calum_

Well, Calum's stomach to be exact but that still didn't help Michael that much. He froze, not knowing what to do, if he jerked away, like logic was telling him to do, then the other boy would think something was wrong, if he stayed then he would definitely think he was weird. The only option was for a slow stretch-like exit strategy, he could just roll back slightly and -

“Oh, look quick, it's the best bit coming up.” Calum was saying, hand suddenly in Michael's hair, coaxing him to turn his head around and face the tv again. He chances a glance up to the other boy's face, and see's that he doesn't seem all too bothered in the slightest to have Michael' head resting in his lap, eyes focused on the screen where Aragorn was giving his big, inspiring speech.

It was probably a bad idea, mental well being and over all sanity considered. But he let himself lay there, turning his head in Calum's lap so he could watch the film, and he should probably be thinking how cool it is, when they charge down and into the orc army like he always does at this point. The only thing was it was pretty hard to focus on anything other than the feeling of Calum's fingers brushing through his hair.

It's a few minutes later in this new state of heaven which Michael has found himself in when he hears a soft voice from above him murmuring, “So soft.” and it's so quiet he thinks he's hearing things. He looks up at Calum, expecting him to still be concentrating on the movie, only to find him looking back at the boy in his lap, finger's still carding through his hair.

“Sorry, what?” Michael asks, internally beating himself around the head immediately after, when Calum jumps like his brain was far away and just snapped back into his head at Michael's words.

Calum clears his throat, and he see's a slight pink tinge to the other boys cheeks when he says again, “Your hair...is...it's really soft, I wasn't expecting it.”

“I do condition you know, much to everyone's shock.” Michael laughs and this time it's Calum who flings the popcorn at his face. “Stop using my own soldiers against me!” he says, hands coming up to shield his face as the attack continues.

“They're not your soldiers any more, they think you're too annoying and have rebelled against you!” Calum giggles reaching around for more ammunition and giving Michael a chance to roll away, heading for the top of his bed, only to be pulled back by a hand on his ankle.

Then there's a giggling Calum tugging him closer, with a handful of popcorn and a smile on his face as he smushes it into Michael's. “Do you give up?” he asks, gleefully.

“Yes, I surrender! You win!” Michael cries, one hand pinned above his head and his laughed fading away when he realises the positing that they had got themselves into. For the second time that day Michael Clifford found himself been straddled by another teenage boy.

Only the second time it was very, very different.

Calum was looking down at him with a completely different expression on his face than he had a minute ago. This one was serious, considering, like he was trying to work something out in his head but the conflict was showing in the beautiful dark eyes that Michael loved so much.

Honestly he was half expecting Calum to roll away and laugh the whole moment off, maybe suggest putting in the other movie, maybe he would push away in disgust, there was still a slight chance of that happening? And then there was the thing that Michael didn't let himself think of...until it happened.

There was a hand on his cheek, sliding up back into his hair, a soft voice saying “So fucking soft.” and he swears he see's Calum's lips moving to form those words but a second later and Michael isn't thinking about that any more.

Just about how Calum _must_ have been talking about his own lip because Michael has thought _a whole fucking lot_ about how kissing this boy would feel over the past two years and 'soft' is the only word in his head right now. There's a small moaning sound and he realises it must have been him, because as soon as he does, Calum becomes more certain, sucking Michael's bottom lip into his mouth as his hand tangles in his hair.

It's like he's been shocked into action, hand sliding free of where it had been pinned to the bed, looping with the other around Calum's neck, feeling his legs spread as he teases the other boy's lips with his tongue. Michael feels him smile, as much as he can any way before he deepens the kiss, there's a strong hand splayed across his lower back pulling him closer to Calum's body and he laughs. Like he needs to be told twice.

Calum seems just as eager to have Michael as close to him as humanly possible and Michael is one hundred percent okay with that idea. The other boy's hand in his hair, tugs back while Calum starts to kiss his way down the green-haired boy's neck. “Do you know how often I've thought about this?” he asks, lips diving down to suck a mark just below his ear as Michael moans at his words or the feeling of Calum's tongue swirling against his skin, he's not sure.

“Trust me not as long as I have.” he chuckles, biting back a tiny moan because yup, those were definitely teeth just then and that was definitely his half hard dick jumping in his pants.

Michael's fingers grip on to the material at the back of Calum's shirt as he growls into his ear, “I can't get you out of my head, what the hell have you done to me, Clifford.” and Michael can only bite his lip as the other boy's hips grind down against his.

“ _Me!?_ ” he manages, lips finding Calum's as the dark haired boy becomes set on making them both come in their pants apparently. “Are you kidding, right now.” he tugs down Calum's collar looking for as much skin as possible to put his lips into contact with, he's waited two freaking years for this after all.

_fuck even his collar bones are perfect_

“Do you have any idea how much I fucking like you, it's insane.” he laughs, going to start what he planned to be a lovely mark right on the centre of Calum's left collar bone, when the other boy freezes above him.

For a moment Michael leans back staring up at him confused, the only sound in the room is their heavy, shallow breathing. “You-you what?” Calum asks, voice shaking and eyes wide like a deer caught in headlight and Michael is worried now, because he doesn't have a clue what's changed.

“I like you, Calum.” he says again, slower this time seeing as the boy above him seems to be having some trouble with his brain.

“I have to go.” Calum mutters, jolting back like Michael burned him, which would be impossible considering his whole body had just turned cold at Calum's words. “I'm sorry I can't...I can't do this.” he says, grabbing his bag and not even looking at Michael, still frozen on his bed, watching with wide eyes as Calum leaves the room.

It takes a moment but soon Michael bolting off the bed and out the door, chasing after him, “Calum, wait! What the hell is going on?” he stops halfway down the stairs as he see's Calum opening the door.

He looks back at Michael with a choked “Sorry I just- I didn't think... _fuck_.” before he disappears behind the door, it closing behind him with a slam.

~

Michael want to hate Calum.

He feels like he should do. But he doesn't, as he's laying in bed that night, refusing to acknowledge the tear track on his cheeks and the occasional stray piece of popcorn in his bed, he thinks he doesn't hate Calum.

He misses him.

There was no texting until three am, no hiding the sound of his laughing into his pillow. His phone didn't light up with a goodnight message like it had done every night they had been talking. And Michael thinks that he would take it all back, to have himself never know the feel of Calum's lips against his own, his hands on his hips, fingers in his hair. All of that, he would trade in just to have his friendship back. Just to have not gone and completely fucked this whole thing up.

To get rid of the fact that he had gone and lost Calum because of his stupid feelings.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next one shouldn't be too long a wait (feel free to give me a kick up the arse any time ;P) xx


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at this two chapters in three days!! Can you tell the weather is absolute shite here or what. Anyways, enjoy my lovelies :D xx

 

Calum hadn't meant to run, he really hadn't. It's just that he had a plan, a good solid plan at how this evening was meant to go and this wasn't it. Michael saying those thing, those wonderful, lovely things, wasn't part of it.

Hell, it was only a few hours ago when he had finally realised and accepted the fact that he _liked_ the boy. Which was quite enough character development for one day, thank you very much. He could deal with that, actually finding it rather easy to 'like' someone all he had to do was convince himself that there was no chance of the other person feeling the same, which meant that he didn't have to do anything about it. 

After all, you couldn't be hurt unless you put yourself into that position, and Calum certainly wasn't planning on doing that again. No, he was quite happy just being with Michael, content in the knowledge that he liked the boy, watching movies, playing with popcorn, running his fingers through his hair......okay, so maybe he got a little carried away, but he was still sticking to the plan. 

Perhaps the plan didn't include straddling Michael, pinning his arm above his head, and that he was essentially clinging on to the plan with his finger tips at this point. Maybe Calum decided to ignore that, still ignoring it when his lips found Michael's.  _it doesn't have to mean anything_ circling around in his head as he gets lost in the feeling of their bodies moving together. 

Calum didn't care that his plan had crumbled into dust around him, didn't care that his head was screaming at him for following his dick again. This couldn't be bad, this was perfect, this was everything he could possibly nee-

“Do you have any idea how much I fucking like you, it's insane.”

This was bad. This was not how it was meant to happen, not how the plan was meant to go. This was....this was....fuck. “You-you what?”

He doesn't want to look at Michael's face, seeing the worry creep into his eyes, but he can't look away from those kiss swollen lips, wishing he could just be kissing him again. Michael could shake his head, say it was nothing and pull Calum back down to pick up where they left off, because there was nothing he wanted more that to keep kissing Michael and act like everything was fine. 

Everything wasn't fine, and it was like the world had slowed down when the other boy says, “I like you, Calum.” And he just wants to leave, like there's a hook in his gut pulling him away, telling him to run. 

“I've got to go.” he hears himself saying, and then he's moving off Michael, loosing the warmth of the other boy but trying not to dwell on it as he grabs his bag. It's like he's on auto pilot, his brain is white noise, he's aware that he's saying something but he doesn't exactly know what or why, just that he can't even look at Michael as he runs from the room. 

 

~oOo~

 

Naturally, while Calum's life seems to fall to shit around him, Luke's has never been better. 

He  _wants_ to be happy for his best friend, he really does, it's just pretty hard to do when you have the weight of how badly you have fucked up hanging over you. It's been days since the 'incident' and Calum still hasn't managed to so much as  _look_ at Michael since, just knowing the boy was in the same room as him was enough to send his stomach twisting. Like the way it was now, with Luke smiling stupidly over his shoulder, which meant that Ashton was there, which also mean that Michael was too.

“Could you stop being so fucking happy for one second, it's freaking me out!” he hisses at the blonde boy, honestly he had a biology test in a hour or so, it wasn't normal to be smiling that much. And the smile on Luke's face drops so suddenly, Calum actually feels guilty, which is a change from the crippling empty, self loathing he had been surrounded in the past couple of days. 

But it wasn't enough to keep him around once the other boy started asking questions, if there's one thing Calum is good at, it's running away from all responsibility and feelings. Taking his tray of barely touched lunch and storming off down the aisle. It would have been a clean get away, with most of his dignity remaining intact if it wasn't for the fact that, in his eagerness to get away, he ran straight into another person. 

There's a loud clatter of plastic and the sharp 'tinging' of cutlery crashing to the floor, and Calum winces at the sound, he's not sure if he can bring himself to be his charming ass self to which ever poor bastard he ran into, right now. He takes a deep breath, “Sorry I wasn't-”

_fuck_

_is this a joke? this has to be a joke_

_ha fucking ha universe you got me_

Michael just stared at Calum, with a open mouth and panic in his eyes, an expression which the other boy was almost certain he matched at this point. It was like someone was twisting the knife that had already been plunged into his gut a few days ago, just to see him squeal.

And somewhere in the back of his mind, Calum knew that he should move, collect up his tray and leave, but the thought was significantly over powered by how much he had forgotten just how pretty Michael's eyes were.

Even if they were filled with hurt and a kind of blind panic as they had been the last time he had seen them, which only made Calum want to kick himself more because, _you did that you idiot._ _that's your fault._

Then Michael was gone, diving to the floor to clear up his tray and the move jolts Calum into doing the same. Hands reaching out everywhere, not even knowing if what he's grabbing is his but the moment his hand brushes with Michael's both boys jump back like they've been shocked, blushing furiously. Calum can feel his reputation sinking by the minute but he couldn't give two shits right now, because Michael is leaving and he can't quite find the fucking courage to just go after him.

 

~

 

He flunks off the rest of the day, spending the afternoon on the field just running laps and kicking an entire cage of footballs from one end of the pitch to another. It's pointless and stupid but it helps clear his head, pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion so that all he can focus on is getting air back into his lungs.

It's when he's laying in the damp, cold grass on the middle of the pitch does his phone start ringing in his pocket. He answers it, not even bothering to check the caller ID, Luke would have finished his make-up exam by now so it was probably him anyway. “Hey.” he barely gets out, eyes closed and running a hand down his face, freezing when he hears the voice on the other end that is definitely not Luke.

“Holy shit, you actually picked up I didn't think you would.” Michael says quickly, and it takes a second for Calum to get over the shock of it to note the panicked tone of the other boy's voice.

“Mikey?” he asks, the nickname rolling of his tongue before he can stop it and he's sure there's a hitch of breath on the other end of the line right after. “What are you-”

“Look, I know you probably don't want to talk to me, or see me or even think of me after what happened the other night, and please don't hang up because I'm not calling because of that. I get that you don't feel the same and that's fine, but Ash is hurt and there's blood and I don't know what to do, Luke's in his exam you're the first person I thought of.” Michael rushes out, voice getting higher and higher by the second, and there are plenty of things in that speech that Calum seriously wants to touch on because, what the fuck, no! But Ashton's hurt and this is not the time.

“Where are you?” he asks, making a mental note to come back and clear up the pitch later as he jogs off the field.

“In the theatre.” Michael replies, “He fell and he's unconscious, I don't know what else is hurt so I don't want to lift him but I can't leave him.” Calum hates the tone of his voice, hates how he can hear Michael close to tears on the other side of a freaking phone and he's not there.

“He'll be fine Mikey, I'm nearly there.” Calum says, hanging up when the door of the theatre is insight.

His eyes train onto the boy's green hair in an instant, running down the gap between the aisles and hauling himself up onto the stage, “What happened?” he gasps, regretting that third lap of the pitch he decided to do as he doubles over, hands resting on his knees.

Michael shrugs from where he's sat on the floor, Ashton's head in his lap and a hand stroking his hair. “I don't know, one minute he was up the ladder attaching some more branches, the next he's on the floor and taken half the tree down with him. I thought he'd-” He breaks off when there is a low moaning sound from the smaller boy in his lap. “Ash? Are you hurt anywhere?” he asks, and Calum can hear him trying to keep back the worry in his voice.

Ashton moves his head to the side ever so slightly, “Jus m'ed.” he mumbles, finger coming up to brush against his temple.

“We should get him to the nurse.” Calum says, bending down to grip Ashton around the arm and wrap it around his shoulders, “You think you can get his other side?” he asks Michael, who nods instantly doing the same with the boy's other arm.

The walk to the nurses office is a long one, partly because of the half conscious teenage boy they're carrying and partly because Calum is hyper aware of the fact that his arm is pressed against Michael's and his hand wedged between his side and Ashton's. They don't talk the whole way there, not a word until Michael knocks on the office door and the school nurse answers, taking in the three boys with widened eyes and asking what happened.

Calum lets Michael explain, hanging by the door of the room and watching them hoist Ashton onto the bed, before Michael steps back letting the nurse get a better look at him. “It's my fault you know.” he mutters after a minute of just standing there, Calum's head whipping around so fast to see how he's watching Ashton with glassy eyes and his voice slightly choked. “I knew he wasn't doing okay, but I never pushed it. Fuck, I'm such a shitty friend.” he whines, both hands covering his face.

And Calum wants to bunch him up in his arms and tell him that he's been a fucking idiot, that he's the best friend in the world, how shit happens and it's not his fault. How he shouldn't think like that, because he's one of the most amazing people Calum knows and if any one is the idiot around here it's him for making Michael think he doesn't feel the same.

But he doesn't, he can't because a moment later and Michael's walking right past him, not noticing Calum's half raised hand, reaching out for him, mumbling something about calling Luke as he steps out of the office.

The blonde arrives a few minutes later, out of breath and looking as if he's about to fall over if someone was to do as much as prod him. “Luke are you alright?” Ashton asks, by now full conscious and sat up on the bed with a bandage wrapped around his head.

Michael smirks from the other side of the room, “He's fine, the idiot wouldn't listen to me long enough for me to tell him you weren't actually dying.” he tells Ashton.

And Calum snorts, he can't help himself, realising he has a crush on the biggest loser does that to a guy. It's not like Michael was close to tears himself not fifteen minutes ago, over the exact same reason, Luke is right now. And Michael knows this, Calum can tell that he knows what he's thinking when he glances at him across the room, and he's just glad to see something more like happiness in the green-haired boys eyes that he doesn't comment.

Calum leaves that nurses office, with one able standing friend, one unstable friend and a determination to fix what ever he had fucked up between him and the boy who he was quickly realising had become one of the most important things in his life.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hugs and kisses and the like to you all* <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi beautiful people, how are you all??
> 
> Sorry for the slight wait on this one, it was giving me a bit of grief but I hope you all enjoy it. Oh and there is an overly amount of emotional-feeling admitting boys in this one and the reveal of what (or who) went down behind that oak tree ;) 
> 
> enjoy, my loves! xx

 

Calum felt like he was going to throw up, and considering how close he was sat to Ashton's mothers hydrangea bush, that probably wasn't a very good thing.

Okay, so admittedly he had been putting the whole 'talking to Michael' thing off a little bit. A week he had had, a whole week to figure out what he was going to possibly say to make everything okay between them, not even that, at the very least just to clear the air around them. And he had absolutely nothing. The most frustrating thing is that he felt like he had everything to apologise for, so many things he wanted to say to him, but just couldn't find the words.

Not that this was a totally new concept at all. Calum had never been very good with words, finding it easier to show his feelings and even then he was pretty shitty at that as well. It had been troubling him for _days_ , he didn't think he had had this much difficulty finding words since he had to write that poem when he was ten for the school assembly. 

He needed help, he needed to calm down.... he needed beer. Lots and lots of beer. 

That particular brain wave came about two hours ago, ten minutes after he had stepped into Ashton's house and 3.5 seconds after setting eyes on the multiple packs of bottles stacked up in the back garden.  Honestly by this point, thinking about talking to Michael was only half of the reason Calum stomach was flipping, as he sat watching Luke make goo goo eyes at Ashton.

It was like being starving and having someone eat pizza right in front of you. Calum had heard people complaining and complaining about 'bloody couples' so many times over the years, and had never really taken them seriously. Because really, how bad could it be? Pretty bad, when all you want is that exact same thing with someone, a particular someone.

That someone who was sat on the deck chair to his right, cheeks flushed and slightly glassy eyed, pale skin standing out in the night, the moonlight seemingly bouncing off him, with a half empty bottle in his hand.

_he's beautiful_

Michael's lips were pressed against the head of the bottle, blowing over it gently, and the green haired boy giggles at the low sound that it makes.

_he's adorable_

Michael wraps his lips around the tip of the bottle, eyes closing as he takes a drink, head falling back against the chair and Calum can see the muscles in his neck working as he swallows.

_fuck he's hot_

_i need another drink_

Calum leans over to the side, were the remaining four bottles of the last six pack are sitting, grabbing another and sitting back. But he does it too fast and his head swims, leaning on the edge of the chair with his eyes squeezed shut and... is he falling forward, because it feels like he's falling forward?

There's a pressure on his shoulder which feels something like a hand, and another on his chest with a slow, voice from above him, “Woah, Cal careful yeah.”

Calum blinks at the floor, at the arms stopping him from falling face first onto it, and at the boy they belong to. Michael's smiling down at him, with such a ridiculous amount of _fond_ in his eyes...okay, so it could just be because they are both a little bit drunk but it was definitely there, and it sent a warm, fuzzy feeling flowing right through him.

Then the hands were gone, Michael was gone, sitting back against his own chair and no no no no no. Calum didn't like it, didn't like how the cool night air seemed so much colder than it did a minute ago, didn't like how the last time he had properly touched Michael had ended in one of the worst moments of Calum's life. He looked around at the other two boys to see Luke disappearing off into the kitchen, Ashton watching him go with a slight pout on his face.

Right then, it was now or never really. Calum takes a deep breath and turns to face the boy on his right, “Hey, Mikey...could I talk with you a minute?” he mutters, very aware of how hard he's gripping the bottle in his hand as he does.

The other boy blinks slowly at him, pausing for so long that Calum starts to wonder if he had even heard him at all. “Um, yeah...okay.” he replies eventually with a slightly hesitant tone, not actually moving to get up from the chair, “But, aren't you already doing that?” he adds, his nose scrunching up in an adorably confused way.

Calum wants to roll his eyes, he really, _really_ does and god only knows how he manages not to as he says, “No, I meant like a private talk. Like, alone, just us, me and you, yeah?”

He can see the moment the words manage to link up passed the alcohol wall in Michael's brain, see the waves of emotion pass over his face as he feels them, realisation, shock, worry and caution before settling on something vaguely neutral with a, “Yeah, yeah sure.” and getting up to his feet.

Calum looks around, knowing that Luke was already in the kitchen and ruling out that option, for somewhere to do this. Spotting the huge oak tree in the corner of the garden, he starts to make his way over, hearing Michael following behind him. His heart feels like its about to thump out of his chest, and he tries to wipe his hands on his jeans from where they've become stick and sweaty. He feels sixteen years old all over again.

“Ha, this is Ashton's tree.” Michael laughs, running a hand along the bark.

Calum frowns, “This _is_ Ashton's house Mikey.”

The other boy rolls his eyes, leaning against the tree, facing away from the house watching Calum as paces in front of him. “I know that, I meant that when we started making the trees for the set all he would go on about it, how he wanted to make one look like 'his tree'. Like this one.” he explains, leaning his head back to gaze at the stars through the branches. “But any way you um...you wanted to talk?”

And for the first time, Calum wonders how he never realised the way Michael felt about him. The boy was like an open book, ever emotion managing to filter across his face for a split second before he managed to conceal it, even now as he's shuffling on his feet and nibbling nervously on his bottom lip, he can still see the little bit of hope shining in his eyes.

Suddenly, after a whole week of wondering, of planning, of hair-pulling frustration, Calum knew what he was going to say.

“I've been an arse.” he blurts out and Michael snorts, a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “A total arse and a massive douche and I just...look I know that lately I've been a right dick but-”

Michael hold up a hand, interrupting him, “You know, if this is just going to be a session of saying how much of a dick you were, then you don't actually have to be here, I've done this a few times on my own already.” he states, so frankly that it has Calum stuttering over himself.

“Oh...right, well then... I guess I'd -”

“I'm joking you, idiot. I still like you.” Michael laughs, before turning worried as Calum stops pacing and whips his head around to look at him, Michael raises his hand slightly reaching out towards the dark haired boy, “I'm sorry I know you don't want to hear that, don't know why I -”

“No, it's okay!” Calum says, taking a step closer with a new eagerness in his eyes, because Michael still liked him, even after everything. “I actually want to explain myself, what I did.” he adds, hesitantly.

The other boy, leans back against the tree, foot resting on the trunk and his arms folding across his chest. “Alright, I'm listening.”

Calum takes a deep breath, he's nervous, not like a Macie Jenkins-holy-shit-im-gonna-pass-out nervous. Not a day-of-a-big-game-cant-stop-fidgeting nervous. Not a before-exam-gonna-throw-up nervous. It was a huge, daunting, if-i-fuck-this-up-ill-loose-him-forever kind of nervous.

“Okay, so as you've probably guessed, I've never been to good with the whole 'emotions and feelings' thing.” he starts suddenly very aware of all the little things, like how much his hands are moving and how he's stood. “About two years ago, there was this girl in my maths class and I really liked her...Well I _thought_ I did at the time, but now I realise that it was just a little crush really and that it was nothing really to how it really feels when you-”

“Calum.” He jumps a little when Michael cuts across him. “You're rambling.” he says, with a small smirk.

“Right, sorry.” Calum mutters, smiling back, sheepishly. “So when I decided to tell her how I feel, it was in front of the whole damn class, because I was a fucking idiot apparently, and I got completely rejected. And it was just so horrible, the feeling like my heart had been ripped right outta me and you just feel so helpless you know.” He pauses when Michael lets out a loud snort, shaking his head at the ground with a bitter sweet expression on his face. “What, what is it?”

“Nothing, it's just that you've gone and described exactly how I felt when you left. Well, you left out the crippling emptiness and the constant aching sensation in your chest, but yeah.” Michael laughs, but it's hollow and sad and Calum hates it immediately. “I guess you could say you Macie-Jenkins-ed me.” he adds and Calum feels like his stomach had dropped right out of him.

That's exactly what he had done. Michael had come out and said how he felt and he had left, how he had ran away, how he had _rejected_ him. And that was so much worse than Macie Jenkins. “Oh fuck, Mikey I didn't...I'm so so sorry. I didn't think, I _wasn't_ thinking.” he says, stepping closer to the other boy not sure if it makes the urge to just pull him into his arms and hold him, to try and mend the part of him that he broke, and easier or harder to ignore.

“Cal it's fin-”

“Don't say it's fine.” Calum snaps, his tone clipped and angry, not at Michael but himself. “It's not fine Mikey, I not fine that I made you feel like that when I-” he breaks off, realising that his hands have found the older boys arms, clutching the material of his shirt in his fingers as he looks into his slightly widened eyes. “Tell me again.” he asks, voice barely a whisper.

Michael blinks at him, brows pulled together in confusion, “What?”

“What you told me the other night, say it again, I want to get it right this time.” Calum insists. He's so focused on keeping their gaze locked together that he can only hear Michael swallow loudly, his eyes casting down to the floor as the moonlight shows the slight pink blush on his cheeks. Calum doesn't even think when his hand cups Michael's chin, lifting his head up slowly. “Tell me again, please.” he asks, gently.

There's a pause, possibly the longest pause of Calum's short life, before Michael parts his perfect lips, “I really _really_ like you, Calum. More than I've ever liked anyone my whole life.”

And the dark haired boy beams, his hands sliding down the other's arms to his hands, which are clenched into tight fists, prising them open to slip his fingers between his own. “And I really, really like you Michael.” Calum smiles, hand's squeezing Michael's softly.

“Really?” Michael asks, starting to smile back in spite of the hint of doubt in his eyes still.

Calum sighs, pulling the other boy forward slightly and catching his lips with his own, in a soft and slow kiss. “Are you convinced yet?” he asks, when they pull back.

The green-haired boy is smirking as he pretends to think it over, “Nope, not quite, looks like you're gonna have to try harder than that.” he teases.

Eye brow quirked, Calum surges forward. His legs sliding between Michael's as their hands unlock and Calum's find their way around the back of Michael's neck as he presses the boy against the tree, tongue slipping right passed his parted lips and both boys let out a moan as they meet. It had gotten pretty chilly that evening, but neither boy could feel the cold any more, so wrapped up in each other, the feel of their bodies flush together and connected where ever possible.

Kissing Michael had become Calum's favourite thing to do. He loved everything about it, the way his lips felt against his own, how his hands twisted in Calum's shirt keeping him close, the little bursts of laughter that slipped out every now and again, which made the other boy smile against him. Calum would kiss Michael forever, he wishes he could, wishes he didn't have to breathe so they didn't have to stop.

But they do, and Michael's eye's are blown when he looks at Calum, his lips are puffy and even more red than usual and he can't tell who's heart beat is who's, but they're both pounding against their chests. “How about now?” he asks, breathlessly, his fingers absent-mindedly twirling in the ends of Michael's hair.

The other boy pouts, head falling back against the tree, “Getting there.” he shrugs, but he's voice is equally as breathless as Calum's. Who nods thoughtfully, taking tight hold of the pale boy's wrists as he attaches his lips to his neck. Michael arches his back as he feels Calum sucking at the skin just under his jaw, teeth nipping sharply with the stark contrast of the smooth swipe of his tongue, as he makes his way down.

He's pressing kiss after kiss against Michael, pulling the collar of his shirt as far down as it'll go, hands snaking under the hem and he jumps when Calum's cold hands touch his skin. He's sinking lower and lower, nails scratching lightly against his back, until his face is directly in front of Michael's crotch and the boy lets out a shuddery moan when Calum glances back up at him with his usually dark eyes almost black in the night.

“And now?” he smirks, loving the feeling of seeing Michael's 'cool' façade, crumbling under his touch, the surge of power that comes with it.

“Closer. Definitely closer.” the panting boy squeaks, breath hitching as Calum traces the outline of his half hard cock from where its pressing against his jeans, watching with a odd fascination as it twitches under his touch. “For fucks sake, Cal are you going to do something or not!” he tries to growl but his voice has too much desperation and pleading to it for it to have the effect he was aiming for.

Not that it stops Calum at all, smirking in the confident as fuck way he had perfected over the years as he flicks open the button on Michael's jeans. His hands are shaking, giving him away as he feels the nerves pile up inside, but the other boy doesn't seem to notice. See, the thing is Calum had never done this before, sure he'd had to done _to him_ loads of times, but he had never been on this end of the dick, so to speak.

“Someone's a little impatient.” he chides, loosening the jeans around Michael's hips as he does, pulling them down a little more.

“So would you be, if you had a ridiculously hot guy this close to your dick.” he points out, groaning as Calum runs his fingers over the elastic of his underwear, teasingly dipping them inside as he inches them down. “Please, Cal.” Michael begs.

And that's when Calum realises just how fucked he is when it comes to this boy, because how can he possibly say no, he can't. Pushing away the nerves he dives straight in, quite literally, fingers hooking around the waist band and pulling the boxers down in one swift motion. (like pulling of a band aid, he thinks.) And whether it's the shock, the cold air, or the feel of the material sliding over his cock, Michael gasps, the sound mixing with Calum's own as he takes in the sight right before his eyes.

It was kind of pretty, as cocks go, he muses as his hand reaches up to wrap around the base, before remembering about their coldness and rubbing them on his own jeans first. It's thicker than he thought it would be, as it continues to grow in his hand as he works it over the length, biting on his lip in concentration and trying to take everything in. He's very aware of the eyes on him, waiting as he watches the pre-come build at the tip and Calum's never had suck a strong urge to lick something in his life.

Which is exactly what he does, tongue flat against the head of Michael's cock, the other boy falling back against the tree at the feeling. Calum does it again, smaller this time, just the tip of his tongue on the tip before he makes his way down, like he's worshipping it with his lips and tongue all the way down to the base.

He's curious now, wants to know just what the other boy tastes like, how he feels and is just about to take the next step when there's a chuckling from above him. Calum leans back, hands gripping Michael's hips for balance as he looks up at him, “Well, if you're going to laugh at me you can forget it.” he grumbles, not truly meaning it, but still...rude.

“Sorry, it's just...this is Ashton's tree.” Michael laughs, trying to stifle the giggles with his hand. And he does look fairly ridiculous with his jeans pushed to his thighs, his dick out to the world, and laughing.

“Okay, but why the fuck are you thinking this right now, I'm kind of in the middle of something you see...or I would like to be anyway.” Calum mutters, brows pulled together and thinking of all the things he would rather be doing with his mouth right now, that are definitely not talking.

Michael takes a moment to compose himself, “Nothing, it's just...if he ever finds out that you sucked me off against his precious tree, he might actually have a heart attack.”

“The only problem with that is that I haven't actually sucked you off yet.” Calum points out, somewhat insistently, kissing the head in hope of bringing his attention back to the matter at hand.

It works, Michael's low chuckles coming to a quick end, hands shooting to Calum's shoulders. “Y-yeah, sorry...you were saying – doing either one will – oh _fuck_.” he stutters, fingers clenching tightly, as the dark haired boy takes nearly half his length into his mouth at once, cheeks hollowing around him as Calum slides back up, lifting off with a 'pop'.

“You alright, babe?” he asks, watching Michael's cheeks flush at the endearment.

He nods wildly, “Just do that again.”

So Calum does, thinking of all the things he likes and trying to do as many of them as he can. This is his way of trying to make it up to Michael, trying to mend what he broke by taking his cock so far into his mouth, the head brushes against the back of his throat and he sends a quick thanks to god for his lack of gag reflex. Michael's making the most encouraging sounds above him and honestly, Calum had never been one for 'giving' in his short but eventful sexual life, always having people come to him, seeking him out and throwing themselves at him. But knowing that those sounds are spilling from the other boys mouth because of him, give him a odd rush of pride.

He bobs his head, building up speed and holding Michael's hips to the tree to stop him moving, as the volume and frequency of his moans grow. Calum reaches down, undoing the button on his own jeans, where he is painfully hard himself, and slipping a hand down the space. He moans around Michael at the contact on his own cock, and the other boy does at the vibrations it sends down his own, as Calum moves his hand in time with the movements of his lips around the other boy.

He's so close already it's almost embarrassing, but he doesn't even care, all he wants is for the boy above him to feel good, feel that tight heat in his stomach build and build until he can't take any more. And he must have been closer than he thought, Michael not even making any sound, as his head falls back, mouth hanging open and chest heaving, the only warning Calum is given is the frantic waving of his hand in the air before he's spilling into the younger boy's mouth with a broken sound falling from his lips.

Calum tries to swallow as much as he can, but a little escapes his lips, running down his chin, but he doesn't care, he's so close. His head's resting against Michael's hip and with a few more strokes, a hand carding through his hair and a low fucked-out voice saying, “Come on, babe.” Calum comes, thick white streaks hitting the ground at the base of the tree and Michael's voice in his head.

“Do you believe me now?” he asks, after a few minutes once they've collected their breath.

Michael laughs, hand reaching out to wipe away the come on Calum's chin, “I'd say that was pretty convincing, yeah.” he says, looking back towards the house, where there was now no sign of either Ashton or Luke. “Hey, you wanna get out of here, my house is a few streets away?”

Calum raises his eye brows at him, “Sure, but you should know, I don't fuck on the first date.” he jokes.

“That's not what I've heard.” Michael teases, climbing to his feet. “But neither do I, you're gonna have to put some work in if you wanna piece of this fine ass, Hood.”

Calum laughs, following him out past the house and down by the side gate. “Ah, I could have guessed, you've got 'chocolates and flowers guy' written all over you. I suppose you'll want to be wined and dined as well?”

Michael snorts, “Of course, I expect to be thoroughly 'wooed', just so you know.”

They're laughing as they walk down the street, Michael's hand swinging by his side and Calum can't help but think of the last time and is hit with the same urge to reach out and take it. So he does, linking his fingers with Michael's, thumb rubbing small circles into his skin, “I think I can manage that.” he says, softly looking down at their entwined hands.

As Michael gives him a quick squeeze, Calum can't help but feel like he could get used to this.

In fact he already is.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ladies and gents I present to you, the defilement of Ashton's tree, and I hope you are all happier about it then the boy in question would be ;P love, hugs and happy thoughts to you all <3 xx


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